Montefiore smashes target for latest fund

Montefiore Investment III was launched in May last year with a €180m target. This was reached just four months later, with the GP deciding at the time to keep raising the fund towards its €240m hard-cap. Several new commitments had to be lowered or turned down during the fundraise, according to the GP.

The firm closed its previous vehicle, Montefiore Investment II, on €120m in early 2009. The GP raised its first fund in 2005.

Montefiore's investments to date are understood to have generated an average gross IRR of around 25-30%. The GP is reportedly in the process of selling its portfolio company Asmodée, a board and card games business that it acquired in 2008.

Elm Capital acted as placement agent for the fund, while Dechert was mandated as legal adviser.

Investors
The fund's LP base comprises family offices, a European bank and several insurance companies, as well as funds-of-funds from both Europe and the US. Institutional investors contributed to three quarters of overall commitments.

Montefiore is believed to have retained around 90% of its existing LP base. International investors provided half of the commitments in the new fund, against less than a third in the previous vehicle.

Investments
Montefiore will keep to its buy-and-build strategy of French lower-mid-cap businesses, focusing on locally supplied services such as hotels and tourism businesses. It intends to build some 10 platforms through this latest fund.

The GP has already made one investment via the fund, buying a majority stake in opinion polls and social research business BVA in April this year.

People
Montefiore's 12-strong team is headed by president Eric Bismuth. The firm has hired one new investment director and three senior associates in the past couple of years.

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